Friday, September 18, 2009

AI War 1.301 (Co-Op Enhancements, UDP Networking, Supply)

Arcen Games is pleased to announce the release of AI War: Fleet
Command version 1.301. You can download a trial version
of the game, as well as purchase
a license key to unlock the full version. If you already have the
game or demo installed, just hit "Check For Updates" inside the game to
get the latest patch.
Many Updates:
- 4 new ships: Decloaker, and three levels of a new Gravitational
Turret.
- Major visual improvements -- the HUD, the galaxy map, menus, and
ship icons have all been revamped. We have updated our
screenshots, which gives a nice before/after contrast.
- Co-op Enhancements -- players can drop in and out of games if
needed, and all ships can be swapped around between players much better
now.
- New "Supply" game mechanic augments the military importance of
captured planets.
- Several AI improvements to add better tactical intelligence in a
number of different scenarios.
- New UDP-based network code performs vastly better in high-latency
or high-packet-loss environments.
- New render caching performance improvement reduces GPU load in
large battles by 1/2 to 2/3.
- More updated battle sound effects, and an updated battle sound
effect engine, makes the sounds of battles much better.
- Resizable minimap -- helpful in particular for larger monitors,
there are now 3 minimap sizes.
- Force Fields controlled by players are now damaged by shots fired
out from under them, but FFs can all now be moved and repaired.
- Many other balance tweaks, ship logic improvements, and other
enhancements and bugfixes.
The above list is just a sampling, however, so be sure to check out the
full release notes to see everything (all 4,800 words worth included in
the next post in this topic). This DLC release is not quite as large as
the last one (which took a full month to make), but the visual
improvements alone make this version feel almost like a whole new game.
Expect our next DLC release within a month or less, but the exact
timing is going to be dependent on how much testing is ultimately needed
for new features -- the next release is going to be the highly
anticipated 2.0 version! You can always get the latest public
prerelease beta versions from our forums if you'd like to see what's
coming down the pike. Lots more exciting updates are on the way!

Then
unzip it into your game folder (usually C:\Program Files\Arcen Games\AI
War\ unless you specified something else). Please make sure that your
unzip process keeps the folder structure from the zip file, rather than
just unpacking all of the files into the base target directory. This is
a cumulative update, so as long as you have at least version 1.000 of
the game installed, this will update you to the latest version (1.301)
without any issues.

This update also now available for Impulse
customers.

For existing GamersGate customers, you can always
upgrade your copy from the "Check For Updates" link in the game just
like customers from our direct site can. The latest version of the
installer will also be coming to GamersGate, but that will affect new
customers only.